Kreider Farms responds to allegations of animal abuse

The Humane Society of the United States is making allegations about conditions at Kreider Farms' egg production facility in Manheim.

Humane Society officials said conditions inside the facility are "deplorable." They said Kreider Farms is not supporting a federal policy change that would improve conditions for egg-laying hens.

The Humane Society had a person work at the Kreider Farms facility between February and March. The worker took video of cramped conditions. You can view that video here.

The worker alleges mummified corpses were lying on the ground under other hens that were laying eggs.

The worker described the conditions when he was walking around on the floor similar to walking around on Rice Krispies because of the number of flies inside.

The worker also alleges there were positive tests for salmonella at the facility.

Dave Andrews, of Krieder Farms, said one of the buildings did test positive for salmonella and that building has been cleaned and none of the eggs ever tested positive for salmonella.

He called the undercover operation false and taken out of context.

"They're taking select footage by going through a facility and finding a dead bird or something that may look unsavory and they’re blowing that up on camera and making this look like a representation of how we treat 5 million birds," Andrews said.

Andrews said the company just learned about the undercover operation and called three state agencies Wednesday night. He said all three of the agencies gave Kreider Farms a clean bill of health.

Under current law, if the allegations are true, Kreider Farms would not face any penalties.

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture released the following statement:

"The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture takes allegations related to animal health and food safety very seriously.

The state veterinarian visited and inspected the entire Kreider Farms Manheim facility on two occasions over the past three days and determined all practices, procedures and conditions met industry best practices and Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program standards.

The facility has passed every state inspection over the past five years, showing high and consistent standards of flock health management at this facility.

When inspecting, the department focuses solely on animal health issues as it does not have jurisdiction over animal welfare issues in the commonwealth. The University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State University also conducted inspections on site."

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